Teen Titans: Next Generation
by NiftyRobot
Summary: The original Teen Titans are all grown up, and now it's their kids' turn to have adventures. -not sure when finishing this story-
1. Chapter 1

He had heard of them; the Teen Titans. His father looked at him with shame whenever the phrase escaped from his lips. His mother had told him numerous times that his father had only a few bad memories from that age. But he knew better.

===~(*)~===

"Ugh, Redeads."

"I know, try not to get caught in the hug of death…"

"Did you know that they're actually gnawing on your head?"

"…what?"

"Yeah, the hug of death is actually a snack of death. 'Cause they scream, then they hold you down and gnaw on your little boy brains. You can't really tell though…these graphics are terrible."

"Child abuse!"

The two boys laughed, even though shouting 'child abuse!' was all the rage decades ago. Of course, how differently did they know? Their parents still used dialect from when they themselves were teens. Particularly Ricky's parents; his father called everyone 'dude'. Ricky wasn't quite sure what a 'dude' was, but he knew it wasn't an insult.

Just a few months ago, Ricky had been clawing through the cellar looking for something to entertain himself with. He came upon an old box, tattered and torn, with large black lettering: "BB'S STUFF"

He figured BB was short for Beast Boy, his father's old super-something name. So, as curious as he was, he tore open the box and was amazed by all the old dusty things he found. He snapped open old CD cases and found colorful discs, usually with writing on them, and posters for movies. One in particular caught his eye, titled "The Dark Knight", showing a man dressed in black with pointy ears standing atop a building. A giant bat-looking symbol hung in the sky, a pale yellow light circling the outside of it. He tucked it aside, making room for other things inside the box. He found a small book called "The Giver", showing a picture of an old looking man with a beard.

He whispered "Wow…" when he lifted up a slightly heavy purplish box with a black handle in the back. The front of it was gray, and had four holes, plus two small rectangular slots. The top had a black circle with small white writing: "NINTENDO GAMECUBE"

Not long after he found the purple box did he find cases with tiny, shiny discs inside them. The cases had "Only for Nintendo Gamecube" at the top, so he figured it was some ancient gaming system. He immediately texted his friend Daniel, who was astonished by Ricky's discoveries.

They started playing a game titled _The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. _They both hated the title, the graphics, and the fact that the style made everyone look like a cat. But they loved the story and the fact that he could shoot arrows so fast reminded them of their friend Lian's father.

The boys sat now in front of the projected screen, watching as the boy clothed in green swung his sword back and forth in the grass, making harsh noises and small yelps. Sometimes a green or blue gem would tumble from the grass, making a clink noise.

"I wonder if there are other versions of this game. Like, ones where he's not so…"

"Short? Annoying? Cat-like?"

"Yeah."

"Hm…I don't know. We could ask my dad."

Daniel and Ricky lazily stood up from the couch and directed themselves in the way of the garage, where Ricky's dad spent most of his time. They basically tripped down the stairs and tumbled out the door where the cold air made them both shiver.

"Hey dad." Ricky said, maneuvering around car parts and abandoned wrenches.

"Hey there, Rick! What's up?"

"Um...we just have a question about that one game we found. The Legend of Zelda?"

Garfield had to think for a moment. The name rang a metaphorical bell in his head suddenly.

"Oh yeah, that one! Go ahead."

"Uh, are there other versions of it? Maybe ones that don't remind us of old-school anime?"

Ricky's dad laughed. _The heck is 'old-school anime'?!_ He wondered.

"There're tons of those games. I lost count after 14…" He scratched his head.

"Really?!" Rick and Daniel shouted in unison.

"Mhm. I don't have all the systems, though. You should try one called _Twilight Princess; _that one is my favorite."

"Mkay. See ya, dad!"

The two boys rushed out the door hurriedly, and stomped up the stairs to the attic.

===~(*)~===

In the old, tattered box, they found the game Ricky's father spoke of. On the cover was a picture that reminded them of the Yin Yang symbol. One side was the head of a wolf, while the other was the head of a teenage boy. They dug around some more for a memory card, but they found a different sort of card in the bunch.

It made them confused with the way it was so crumpled up, but still unopened. There, written in lacy handwriting, were the words Rick's father despised so much:

_To the Teen Titans_


	2. Chapter 2

Short chapter, but my creative juices aren't flowing so well. :

Oh, and 'devil worship music' is what my dad calls Fall Out Boy. He'd just rather listen to twangy country music. XD

* * *

"…We should read it…I mean, what if it's a cry for help some kid wrote years ago?" Daniel was hanging off of Ricky's loft bed, his light hair falling from his face.

"As if. It's too formal looking to be a letter of concern like that."

"Big words, Rick. Big words."

"Formal and concern are not 'big words'!"

"Don't yell at me. I was only kidding. Why are you so touchy when it comes to these things? I know your parents don't talk about it much, but it's not like it was complete hell when they were together."

"Then why do you think they broke up then, huh?"

Daniel was silent.

===~(*)~===

_So give in or just give up_

_Are we growing up, or just going down?_

Pisces sang along with the music pounding her eardrums.

Classics, her mother called them. Devil worship music, as her father described it.

She wasn't sure who to believe in that sort of situation, since her father loved to joke around. Her mother wasn't always straight-faced either, so she learned to sort of 'roll with it'.

Pisces spent most of her time in her room, talking to the little creatures in her fish tank. They never had anything particularly important to say, but it was still better than talking to her parents.

Like Rick's parents, Pisces parents kept certain things from when they were kids in the attic. She found plenty of old anime DVD's in one box, probably from Starfire (who had a particular interest in Japanese cartoons), and three whole photo albums of random pictures; some of her parents, a few of her 'uncle' Roy and Lian, something that looked like a convention of some sort, a couple of old photos of Tramm the fish boy, and lots of pictures of the other former titans.

She loved looking through the albums, no matter how many times she saw the same pictures again and again. Something about them amazed her, but she was still unsure why.

Her fish were having an interesting conversation about what the flakes of fish food tasted like when her phone buzzed in the pocket of her jacket. She sighed and reached inside, hesitating before answering.

"You have to come over here. Dan and me found this letter; we think you and the others should be here when we read it." It was Rick, rambling about something unimportant as usual.

"Look, as much as I'd love to participate in your reading party, I've got other things to do."

"You don't understand; it's addressed to the Teen Titans. We found it in the attic. …Hey, what do you mean 'other things'?! Talking to your little fish sticks can't possibly be more exciting than this!"

Pisces looked at her fish tank, feeling her face heating up. Her eyes stuck to the little gold fish she named Tamaki.

"Ah, shut up. I'll be over in a bit."

She hung up before Rick could say good bye. Her arms flopped down and she hung her head over the edge of the bed.

"What's wrong, princess?" Her father asked as he opened the door.

"Hey dad." She mumbled into the sheets. "Rick wants me to come over."

"Well you can go if you want."

"Does it look like I want to?" She lifted her head up sharply with a serious look plastered on her face.

"Well…no…"

She flopped back down.

"That boy…he really knows how to get on my nerves…"

She peeked up at her father, who was watching the fish in her tank.

"They find him annoying, too."

"Yeah I know. I've told them our conversations before."

The fish swam around casually; gulping in water and spitting it back out from behind their gills.

A few minutes passed.

"Dad?"

"Hm?"

"You used to have long hair, right?"

"Yeah. It looked a lot like yours, only it was more…manly."

"Of course dad, of course. But why did you cut it so short?"

He looked at the floor, looking for an explanation.

"I'm not sure." He said. "I think I was just growing up, and realizing that guys with long hair were only cool looking as teenagers. As an adult, it would be sort of…weird, you know?"

"Yeah." She said, staring off out the window. "I guess."


End file.
